FAT vs NTFS

As we all know both of these formats are out there for ages but still there is confusion regarding which one of these is best.

For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in FAT. However many novice or even experienced
keep using FAT as it is mostly precofigured while shipping.

Differences among the files systems:

There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP:
FAT16( short for File Allocation Table)
FAT32 (32 bit version of FAT )
NTFS (short for NT File System.)

FAT16
The FAT16 file system was introduced long long ago with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's really
about to die(actually it is dead). It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive,
and with few minor modifications it was made to handle hard disks, and longer file names.

The biggest advantage:
It is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX.

The biggest dis-advantage(s) :
It has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, was introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, and is only an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. obviously it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system.
However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well.

The Advantages of NTFS:(you see i begin with advantages umm.. biased)
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS.
You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point.
But remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the
drive or partition), and i dont think you'll want to.


So is FAT32 crap?
NO.
If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer you should format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT32 volume. But is no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT32 partition.